Rapid development and reusable design for the connected car

Automobile manufacturers today face technical challenges far beyond the perennial requirement of delivering on time and within budget, year after year. The pressure to cost-effectively reconcile the apparently incompatible development cycles of silicon and steel is greater than ever.

In-vehicle electronics now range from digital dashboards to navigation and infotainment systems. The advent of the connected car heralds an era when users will expect in-vehicle systems that interface seamlessly with multiple external devices, and easily integrate new applications. To make the challenge even more interesting, these applications may not even be available when a vehicle rolls off the assembly line.

To meet this challenge, manufacturers and tier one suppliers need to ensure that the system they select for building their connected vehicles will facilitate both rapid HMI development and customization, and the integration of new applications as they become available. In other words, is the system designed so that it can be easily and elegantly implemented across different vehicle models now and in the future, and will it be able to accept new applications and technologies, safely and without disruption to existing functionality?

Figure 1: QNX CAR separates the HMI from the underlying functionality. The same system supports different user interfaces, for different vehicle models and different languages, or just to suit end-user preferences.

I can see this as being a very advantageous approach to auto electronics. I'd like to see interchangeable hardware as well. With OS standards and hardware standards, long-term maintenance of electronified vehicles could potentially become financially viable.
These days, if the computer dies on your ten-year-old car, the repair bill will likely exceed the value of the car. If a future modular computer died, the repair shop could buy any standard part, upload the correct parameter table into flash and send you on your way.
Some folks would maintain that doing this would not be possible because each and every part in a car is engineered for maximum space, function and integration efficiency. That a standard computer would do everything so-so and nothing well. I would maintain that there are examples of other standard devices in cars that have specific parameters adapted to the application.
There are a lot of varieties of batteries, tires and lights, but no where near as many batteries, tires and lights as there are different vehicle models. A standard computer could have even fewer varieties due to its programmability. That leaves the mechanical constraints, with doesn't seem to be a problem with standard batteries and such.

THis is a very interesting (and ambitious) approach to providing media functionality in cars of varying degrees. The standard Smartphone now makes music, navigation, and hands free phone available to the motorist in varying degrees of sophistication. This ranges from a bluetooth bridge to a direct dock. Should motor and drive train computing should be separate from any entertainment? One could make an argument either way. It will be interesting to see where things go...